Stories of self-discovery, self-acceptance, and the simple but radical, often dangerous act of just existing as a queer person are on display in these empathetic and innovative shorts, which reflect the wide spectrum of experiences that make up the LGBTQ+ rainbow.
Directed by Barbara Hammer • 1982 • United States
An incredible document of the LGBT film scene in the early 1980s (as well as artist Barbara Hammer’s off-the-charts charisma), AUDIENCE finds Hammer working in a more straightforward documentary mode than usual. Hammer interviews her largely lesb...
Directed by Carlos Aparicio and Susana Aikin • 1990 • United States
Released the same year as PARIS IS BURNING, Susana Aikin and Carlos Aparicio’s THE SALT MINES focuses on three homeless Lantinx trans women living in a parking lot of old garbage trucks on Manhattan’s West Side. Aikin and Aparic...
Directed by Myra Paci • 1992 • United States
Starring Myra Paci, Carter Burwell, Dina Emerson
Dante transported to Times Square: a morbid and tender love story begins when a lonely girl drags home the naked body of a comatose, genital-less blonde woman.
Directed by Carlos Aparicio and Susana Aikin • 1995 • United States
In THE TRANSFORMATION, Susana Aiken and Carlos Aparicio find one of the most engaging subjects of their previous documentary THE SALT MINES living as a man in Texas, forced to transition back by an evangelical missionary that of...
Directed by Lauren Wolkstein • 2013 • France
Starring Anna Margaret Hollyman, Camille Claris, Ulysse Grosjean
A thirty-year-old American woman crashes a teenage party in the South of France, leading the guests to wonder who she is and what she is doing there.
Directed by Jennifer Reeder • 2015 • Canada
Starring Kelsey Ashby-Middleton, Morgan S. Reesh, Marissa Castillo
Countdown to prom night is actually countdown to irreversible change for three girls. While two of them fall in love with each other against all expectations, the third is forced to mot...
Directed by Brontez Purnell • 2016 • United States
In Brontez Purnell’s “video mixtape,” unlikely antihero DeShawn—an HIV-positive Black gay man haunted by the ghosts of 100 men—relates his philosophy of the world to an unknown caller on his landline while magically shrink-fitting a new pair of ...
Directed by Jordan Firstman • 2016 • United States
Starring Craig Chester, Jordan Firstman
Usually a reserved guy, Greg struggles to keep up with young, unpredictable Josh on their first date. But as things heat up and spiral out of control, the two men must confront the generational divide that...
Directed by Elegance Bratton • 2016 • United States
Starring Aaliyah King, Yolonda Ross, Brenda Holder
A teenager explores her transgender identity through voguing and ball culture—but is her mom ready to accept her for who she is?
Directed by Jorge Jácome • 2017 • Portugal
Starring André Andrade, Gabriel Desplanque, Jorge Jácome
Drenched in lysergic lavender, this sci-fi pseudo-documentary is both a dreamy vision of ecological apocalypse and a tender queer love story set on an island in the Azores overrun by endlessly pro...
Directed by Paul Rowley • 2018 • Italy
Starring Leo Gullotta
This haunting, lyrical documentary recounts the long untold story of gay men who were imprisoned on a remote island by Mussolini’s Fascist regime in the 1930s.
Directed by Goran Stolevski • 2018 • Republic of Macedonia
Starring Sara Klimoska, Igor Angelov, Antonija Belazelkoska
A teenage tomboy challenges the patriarchal code of her conservative Macedonian town when she dares to take part in a religious ritual traditionally reserved for men in this emp...
Directed by Keisha Rae Witherspoon • 2019 • United States
Starring Koko Zauditu-Selassie, Kherby Jean, Jesus Mitchell
A film crew follows three grieving participants in Miami’s annual T Ball, where folks assemble to model RIP T-shirts and innovative costumes designed in honor of their dead.
Directed by Matthew Puccini • 2020 • United States
Starring Morgan Sullivan, Manny Dunn
High school boyfriends Marco and Graham cut class for a romantic rendezvous in bed—but things don’t go quite as planned in this tender, emotionally raw snapshot of two queer teenagers navigating intimacy toge...
Directed by Naïla Guiguet • 2020 • France
Starring Dustin Muchuvitz, Félix Maritaud, Raya Martigny
In an abandoned warehouse, a crowd—including a young transgender woman and her boyfriend—dances as one to techno music. As the night wears on, collective hysteria morphs into sweet melancholy, and ...
Directed by Samira Saraya • 2020 • Israel
Starring Samira Saraya, Hadas Yaron, Fidaa Zidan
Yasmine, an openly lesbian Arab nurse living in Tel Aviv, finds out that her lover, an intelligence officer in the Israeli army, has been reporting on their relationship. Their affair is further strained b...
Directed by Marin Håskjold • 2020 • Norway
Starring Mina Alette Høvik, Eva Johansson, Louise Löwenberg
A discussion occurs in a women’s locker room when someone asks a transgender woman to leave. Tackling complex issues head-on in a frank, naturalistic style, Norwegian director Marin Håskjold ex...
